Whether or not we have the skill to read them, Chinese characters are all around us. Examples of one of the world's oldest writing systems pop up anywhere you look: on gaudy backlit restaurant signs, as an option on ATM screens, and covering the local Chinese-language dailies stacked in stores across the city. As I write this I can see a China Shipping container, emblazoned vertically in Chinese, being emptied down the block.

Despite the visual presence of this so-called foreign language, few people of non-Chinese background are likely to know much about its origins or structure. Many have shied away from learning it, having heard that the number of characters totals about 55,000. (Not to worry: you can read a newspaper after memorizing only 3,500 of them, and claim a good vocabulary at 5,000.) In fact, plenty of first- and second-generation Chinese-Canadians speak only a smattering of some dialect and read even less.

To fill the knowledge gap, the Vancouver Museum is presenting Chinese Script: From Oracle Bones to Computer Bytes, a travelling exhibit prepared by the National Library of China. Here through Labour Day, it traces Middle Kingdom writing from the earliest-known particulars to the present day, starting off with the legend of Cangjie. This four-eyed official of the Yellow Emperor is said to have created the first Chinese written characters 5,000 years ago, inspired by the shapes of the moon and footprints of birds and animals.

Beginning the physical record are the famous oracle bones dating as far back as the 16th century BC, all found near the Shang Dynasty capital in Henan province. Farmers eventually unearthed these shards of sheep scapulae and tortoiseshell engraved with the pictographic precursors of modern-day Chinese characters.

"They were used in the highest levels of Chinese society at the time, to divine answers for the leader on questions he had about the harvest, warfare, and other practical things he needed to know from the higher spirits," explains Paula Swart, the museum's curator of Asian Studies, during the exhibit setup. "They would drill holes in certain parts of a bone, put it in the fire, and cracks would appear for the diviner to read. The message was later recorded on the bones."

Due to the hazards of being on the road, few breakable or irreplaceable items accompany the exhibit's two-dimensional information panels. Local sources make up for that: Swart drew on public and private stashes to illustrate the presentations in 3-D. Star attractions are real oracle bones, an unrecorded early museum donation consisting of seven fragments in a bag. To date, no one has identified the symbols carved into the bones, although a local expert may be found. Other treasures include a large piece of Ming Dynasty money printed on purplish mulberry paper and stamped with red seals, the text threatening counterfeiters with beheading; and a string of bronze Qing Dynasty coins, in use until 1911.

Such items help to animate the detailed wall-mounted information on the evolution of Chinese script. Fascinating comparative charts chro?nicle the various stages, from the pictographic era to Emperor Qin Shi Huang's "small seal" standardization in 221 BC (which established the basic form of the characters) and onward. The exhibit also covers the development of paper and printing, two related Chinese inventions with huge global repercussions. Swart, who is fluent in Mandarin and can read and write Chinese, has added a component about learning the language.

Artistry is never far removed from the subject of Chinese writing. Striking items include a collectible set of jet-black embossed and gilded ink sticks made by China's top manufacturer in 1915, and a variety of delicate earth-toned Yixing stoneware vessels adorned with decorative script-from teapots to seal-paste containers to brush holders-created in the late 19th century as a collaboration between potter and their clients, who were often scholars or artists. A lighter touch is local Chinatown calligrapher Yukman Lai's work, mounted on a silk scroll, showing the evolution of the character for elephant.

Although the exhibit highlights the "four treasures of study" that have served China's scribes for millennia-brush, ink stick, ink stone, and paper-it also takes us into the modern era. Visitors can see carved wooden typesetting slugs that were once lined up for 18th-century printing jobs, and learn how Chinese script has been adapted to the age of computers. And yes, the show answers the puzzling question of how thousands of different characters could possibly be input via a standard western keyboard.